Ryan Trahan:
My brain immediately went to making up a launch day, and so I just thought of calling it Joyride Day. a 30-day countdown to, hey guys, Joyride’s going to be launching in Target on the bottom shelf on Joyride Day. We worked really, really hard on the content side promoting it, and Joyride Day comes, and I just remember like going to Instagram, seeing all the tagged posts, empty shelves everywhere, like Joyride just sold out all over the place.

Ben Wiggins:
Welcome to Aggie Legends, where we talk with founders, CEOs, and other successful Aggies about the lessons in leadership they’ve experienced throughout their careers. I’m your host, Ben Wiggins, May’s MBA class of 2018, and today we are talking to Ryan Trahan and Tyler Merrick, co-founders of Joyride. Tyler is Joyride’s CEO and a Texas A&M University graduate from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Ryan is Joyride’s chief creative officer and a former Texas A&M cross-country and track athlete who left the university to pursue entrepreneurship and content creation full-time. He’s achieved major success in that realm with more than 23 million followers on YouTube. Tyler, if you would, take us back to the beginning. You grew up in the panhandle around a family business. When did you first start thinking about building something of your own?

Tyler Merrick:
Yeah, I mean, it was a unique family business. It was in the pet food industry, and so we did everything from treats to dog food. I grew up going to trade shows and demonstrating at those shows, selling in Sam’s Club on the weekends. So I learned early on from my dad on how to create a product and take it to market. And so that was something that I always was really just captivated by and thought that would be a lot of fun. And so I worked in my family business for quite a while, and then it was just with that itch where it was like, you know, I kind of have a dream to go do something as well. And so that happened when I was around 29, 30 years old, where I left and started to pursue something else.

Ben Wiggins:
Tell us about your path to Texas A&M and what your experience here was like. Was there a moment that surprised you or knocked you off course, off a course that you thought you were on?

Tyler Merrick:
Yeah. Well, growing up in the panhandle, A&M might as well be Canada, as far as how far away it is from from us. So it was like a nine hour drive. So I actually became interested in A&M because my girlfriend at the time who is my wife now, was a year ahead of me, and she was going to A&M. And so it really sparked my interest to look at A&M as well. And so I ended up getting to come here, which was great.

And I actually was in the Mays College of Business. And I had a fortunate or unfortunate incident where I flunked out of the Mays College of Business School. And so the College of Agriculture was super gracious to take me in my later years and finish up there, which I was very grateful for. And that was one that was a real teaching moment for me, where I had kind of squandered the opportunity that I had. I was doing little businesses on the side. I had a t-shirt business that I did and some other things. And so I should have been applying myself to schoolwork a little bit more, but was interested in some of those things. And but what it ended up doing was I was like, all right, I can either, you know, get out of this or I can push all the way through and accomplish like I saw this through. And so I just leaned in and I made the most of it and I finished. And so that was a real important thing for me, just for my perspective to be like accomplishing a goal. So that served me well later on in life of just completing something and going through adversity.

Ben Wiggins:
Yes. After graduation, you joined your family business and built Merrick Pet Care into something big before you’d even hit 30. What did those early years teach you about spotting the right opportunity before others do?

Tyler Merrick:
Yeah, I mean, it is something that you, now my age, I don’t take for granted because it is like, I think everyone has different giftings and you don’t really realize it at the time, you know, of that kind of intuition, if you will. And I think that is something I’m very grateful for. I’m not always right with it, so I’m not trying, it’s not a superpower by any stretch. But it does, I think what is one of those things is you, similar to an engineer who can look at a certain structure and they can just, you know, assign quickly like, OK, I know how that works and I can see how this connects here. The same thing with, I think, an entrepreneur where you’re looking at situations and you’re going, oh, that’s interesting. I think the market’s going here. And I think if I did something here that there’s potential. And so that’s typically what you do. And sometimes you’re sometimes you’re late, sometimes you’re too early and sometimes you’re right on time. Those things you can’t totally just completely build a formula around, but you can at least be around the goal for a rebound, you know, to kind of catch something. So that’s, I think, what an entrepreneur’s intuition is.

Ben Wiggins:
Where did you first leave your mark on the family business and what do you feel best equipped you to do that?

Tyler Merrick:
Yeah. So, I mean, a great example of that is, you know, when I was working for my family business, we had been more in like a value channel of pet food. So like 40 pound, 50 pound bag of dog foods, trying to take care of the farm family dog, right. And then selling ingredients to other companies that were doing that. And I was going on the road and selling. We had a line of pet treats like bones and shoes that were more like in the city centers, like pet stores that had higher end type products. And I started to see this natural pet food trend start to kind of start to pick up some steam. And I thought that’s really interesting. You know, most dogs up to that point in America had been in the backyard and some only in the that were urban dwellers. And so I saw this, I saw this kind of wave that was coming.

And I came back to my parents and I was like, I think this is where the, I think this is where pet food’s going. And I think we’re in a unique position because we have our own factories that we could get out in front of it. And so if I came up with something, would you support it? And they were like, yeah, we’ll take a look at it. And so I was like a couple months later. And it’s, I mean, it’s a classic story where like I woke up in the night, I couldn’t sleep, went out and just started writing down the idea. And then, you know, started shaping it and came to them and they were like, we like it. And I think what was great about that too was, is that what they gave me was a lot of freedom. I don’t know if I would have given myself that same amount of freedom. But I didn’t have the hangups of what the category was doing.

So to that point, everybody was putting a dog or a cat on the packaging and saying this dog formula and cat formula. And I came at it from a perspective that was like, no, I want to go left. And so I didn’t put any dog or any cat on package. And then I named the products after things that we liked, like Grammy’s pot pie, cowboy cookout, campfire trout feast, these kind of like romance copy stories. And it just took off, like, you know, humanized the product, you know, illustrated all the ingredients and it was, you know, it was right place, right time. And it was one of those things that was a lot of fun. And I definitely was born on third. I didn’t hit a triple in that sense, but it was very, a very blue collar family when I say that. So it was a very humble agriculture, but having the factories and everything, you know, there and a lot of experience allowed me a canvas to paint and then just some providence that it took off.

Ben Wiggins:
What a cool story. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. What is a moment where you were too early or too late or, or otherwise missed the target in some way by your own assessment? And then how did that change how you approached like looking for the opportunities?

Tyler Merrick:
Yeah, I think, I mean, I’ve, I’ve got a library of those, so it’s hard to pick just one. But I think from a too early standpoint sometimes is like, if you’re familiar with Toms Shoes, you know, the great job that they did with, you know, their buy one, give one model, I, you could argue this both ways. It could, it could actually be a case study for too early or too late, but I’ll tell it from that perspective. I thought, Oh, I want to do something similar to that. And it was really right around that same time that was just getting started. And there was a brand called Newman’s Own which a lot of people don’t know, but Paul Newman was an actor and had great success in his day. And he started a salad dressing brand to just to go away for friends at Christmas. And they were like, this is really good. Why don’t you make it? And so he turned it into a way to fundraise for a hole in the wall camp. And so he created this whole brand that was all profits go to charity. And I loved that. And so I thought, what if I did the same kind of thing, but did a 2.0 version of that. And so what that meant was his was all going to Hole In the Wall Gang. And I thought, what if you, you know, democratize this process and you let people pick where they gave back to. So the name was Project 7. And it was this whole idea of you buy this product, it gives clean drinking water, provides clean drinking water. This one provides education. This one provides shelter. And so I thought, Oh, this will be the kind of the next generation’s way of going I love that.

The way I say that I was too late on that one was Paul had that was like before you had all these grocery store, private label brands. And so he had agency to be in a lot of different categories and scale quickly. I was coming in right at when all of these grocery store, private brands were starting and premiumization of those categories. And so they didn’t really want something that was just a white label giving model kind of product. And so that was one where I was late in that sense that you could say of just the market had changed. I should have focused just in a core category, but I tried to go too wide and in going after him. In other words, you could say it was too early because sometimes you could, it was right at the beginning of that and conscious kind of capitalism. People weren’t totally sure about how they would do that if they wanted to give up their favorite product just to fund a charity.

Ben Wiggins:
Then bringing that around, what made you start paying attention to a completely different way of doing business a few years back and what pushed you to actually act on it instead of just noticing it?

Tyler Merrick:
Yeah. I mean, um, the, the funny kind of accidental story is, and how I got into candy was, I, the Project 7 story, the first product that I was selling was bottled water, which is like the worst business to start in. And be just the price point, all the commoditization. And so I was pitching whole foods and they were like, get this stinking water out of here in other words. But, you got a really cool concept. I love what you’re trying to do, you know, from a social enterprise. And so, because I’d been in all of those kinds of buyer meetings and grew up in that, I knew enough that he was reviewing certain categories at that time. Cause grocery stores only review certain, you know, like categories. And so I said, well, what categories are you reviewing right now? Like, I didn’t want to go home that day with like a total no, and I should’ve gone home and thought about it, but I didn’t. And so it was diapers, baby food, chocolate, and chewing gum. And so process elimination, I just said, I didn’t know how, but I was like, I’ll make you chewing gum. And so he was like, well, I’m not going to promise you that I’m going to put it in. If you want to send it in, I said, that’s fine. Just take another look at this with that.

So that got me into chewing gum and candy, which like kind of led into our story that we’re here for today. And it was out of that, then as doing chewing gum for a certain period of time where it was a really challenging category, it was like, it was contracting all these users in the space. The front end was, they were cutting back how much of assortment they were putting towards it and giving other things like dark chocolate and jerky and protein bars more space. And so I was like, if I don’t move out of this pretty soon, I’m going to be in another position where I’ve been in before back to that entrepreneur’s intuition. So that’s when I went kind of adjacent to it into candy. And so then started doing some iterations there of how do I make a better candy that would be something that people would feel like they would really get excited about that was a healthy version for them, but still the same.

Ben Wiggins:
These stories are fascinating to me. Ryan, tell us about your path to Texas A&M and the track team, the cross-country team. What drew you here?

Ryan Trahan:
Yeah. So I grew up around Houston, Southwest Houston. So I’m not too far away when I was growing up. And obviously UT A&M, these are like the big schools that if you grew up in Texas, you’re watching college football. Like this is the epitome of what you live for pretty much is watching college football.

And really I got into running as a realization that I was just not going to play football in life. I remember playing in middle school. I was cornerback, didn’t really play much, but in the fourth quarter I got an interception one time. So exciting. And then I got tackled after the interception. I was like celebrating. I wasn’t even running and some guy came and tackled me. And it hurt so bad. I realized, okay, this is not my thing. Even if I’m good at it, I don’t want to be good at it. And so I got into running cross-country. It was like the alternative in high school sports or junior high sports. So got into running non-contact, which is amazing. And it was really cool because cross-country and track, they’re team sports in a sense, but at the same time, you really are responsible for yourself. If you’re going to get faster and improve, you have total control over that. You can do more work if you want to. And if you don’t do the work, it’s going to show eventually. So it was a really cool outlet for me to learn the value of hard work and see how you put in more than your competitors, it’ll really come to fruition long-term. So I just started dreaming really big with running and school. And I really wanted to be able to get a scholarship to go to college full ride ideally. And running was another option for that. So really just dedicated myself to those two things. And fortunately was able to run at Texas A&M, which is such a dream come true to be able to have cross-country season and get the gear and my own shoes and be able to travel. And it was honestly just the most amazing experience and really, really fortunate for it.

Ben Wiggins:
What did those early days as a student athlete look like for you? The schedule had to be a lot to deal with.

Ryan Trahan:
Yeah, it was crazy. I mean, I thought I was working hard in high school and then you get to college and you’re waking up even earlier. We were driving out to some trails outside of College Station and doing crazy hill workouts. And it’s really amazing when you get into a new environment and you realize, wow, the standard can be so much higher than I ever imagined. And it’s just really amazing the types of guys that were on the cross-country team, the coaches, it’s really this awesome culture of excellence. And I think that has really stuck with me even now. But I mean, waking up early and then going to school, riding your bike to school and your legs are super tired. It was really, really, really hard work. But again, I think it’s one of those things that shapes you if you let it and really appreciative.

Ben Wiggins:
What brought you into entrepreneurship and what did the early results look like?

Ryan Trahan:
In high school, I was also very entrepreneurial. So I would watch Shark Tank with my dad on Friday nights. He would make burgers. We would sit down in the living room and watch Shark Tank and discuss which ones we would invest in if we had the opportunity. And it was really, really cool to be able to watch these entrepreneurs go on TV and talk about this product that they’re building, this business that they’re building, their dreams, and then also see the billionaire experts who are saying, I don’t think this will work out or I’m the only one who believes in you on this floor. And then you get the highlight reels, too, of like, here’s two years later. Here’s how the business is doing today. And it was always really rewarding because I remember sometimes we would watch a show and then I would remember the same business years later. And to see that story come to fruition was always inspiring. And so just through those experiences, me and my dad would talk about like different business ideas. And I would tell him, Oh, I think I might do a portable charger business dad. And he’s like, Oh, that’s cool. You should try that. Granted, I had no idea how to do it. And I had a lot to learn. But it’s amazing what you can do if you just sit on your computer and Google stuff and really apply yourself, reach out to people via email. And so I learned a lot through that.

I did start a portable charger business when I was 16, and I tried selling it on Amazon. And I lost all my money. I lost about a thousand dollars at the time. That’s like all of my summer job earnings. And it burned a lot. It really hurt. But I learned from it.

And then when I was a junior, I actually started a water bottle business, a reusable water bottle business called Neptune. And this was actually really cool because I ran a lot. And it was something that my cross-country teammates were like, I’ll buy one of those. And I was like, oh, my gosh, I can sell these to my friends, too. And I can sell them at cross-country meets. And it felt very real and tangible. This is something that actually provides value to people I know. And so that got me to start a YouTube channel because once I had already sold to all the people I possibly could in my small town or the cross-country meets, I needed more people to reach. And so I started making running videos because it was the one thing that I was an expert at, I would say. And I was also able to sell my water bottles via Amazon. So really cool, full circle how it all led up to being able to go to college and have this business experience while also being able to apply myself to running and give that my all as well. So it’s a really, really cool high school experience that I’m grateful for.

Ben Wiggins:
Fantastic. That brought you to a point where you had to make a serious decision about your future. Walk us through what that was like and how you thought it through, if you don’t mind.

Ryan Trahan:
Yeah, absolutely. Definitely the big climax of all this coming to fruition was freshman year of college. I am working really hard in every direction, running cross-country and going to school, working hard academically. And I’ve also got this water bottle business. And at the time, Neptune was doing really well. It was doing much better than my YouTube channel. And I saw a path forward for Neptune that felt like it could really be the next Hydroflask or Yeti if I really believed in myself. And at the time, I think I just believed that I could accomplish anything. And you have to have a little bit of that delusion that if I really go all in on this, whether it’s Neptune or running or full-time studying economics at Texas A&M, I can be the best in that field. And I think the biggest thing was I have to pick one. I have to pick at least one. I ultimately realized that I wanted to pursue YouTube full-time. I only had 20,000 subscribers at the time. So I was earning just enough money to pay rent, which for me, it was like the floor that I know I can bet on myself. And if I can sustain this, I can be living at Park West, shout out Park West, for at least the rest of my lease. And for me, that was enough to take the risk. It was a hard decision. I gave up a full ride academic scholarship, which a lot of people felt foolish.

And what’s really cool full circle is, I remember telling my dad the decision before I informed the school. And we were at some Chinese restaurant outside of my hometown. And he just looked at me and he’s like, son, I really believe in you. I think whatever you want to achieve in life, I think you can go do it. So I’m here either way. If things go bad, if things go good, I’m here. And so that really meant a lot to me because I think he saw the full picture of, you know, even working so hard and running just to give it up. Like I think even for you, like it’s a very abridged version of all the hard work that goes into building something. But with running, it was really my life. And so to walk away from that was like a huge decision. But it obviously was, it was for something bigger and better. And I’m really grateful for that.

Ben Wiggins:
It was a decision you clearly weren’t taking lightly. You know, you thought sometimes life presents those things where you’re like, all right, I’m up against it now. Is this what I thought it was? Is it what I hope it can be? Or is this other thing that’s newer that I haven’t put all this time into? Like, I respect the way that you did that. And certainly that’s that warms the heart the way that your dad handled it. You’ve now built a career doing things that most people wouldn’t attempt, you know, traveling on a single penny, huge fundraising challenges. Where did that appetite for big public bets come from?

Ryan Trahan:
That’s a good question. Really trying to think through that. I think there’s a there’s a point where it kind of happened to me, I would say, as you start to post more YouTube videos, you kind of lose sight of the fact that these are real people. I think after like a thousand subscribers, I stopped understanding how many people are actually watching my videos. It’s really hard to fathom growing up in a small town. And even if you don’t grow up in a small town, if you try to picture a thousand people in a room, like I’m going to get super nervous. Start freaking out. So this idea of, you know, building something in public, which on YouTube, everyone can see how many views you have. Everyone can see how many subscribers you have. And it’s kind of different from a regular business in that way.

But as time gone on, I started to realize that my viewers and my audience and the platform in general really responded to authenticity or really just dreaming out loud, dreaming publicly. Um, it’s something that I always gravitated towards in high school, these YouTubers that would be building something and say, like, these are my goals and these are my dreams, whether they’re in the fitness industry or building a CPG brand of some sort. I always thought it was so cool that they would be able to share a piece of their dreams with the public because that made me believe in them. It made me want to support them. And it also inspired me as well. So I think eventually when it comes to the fundraisers or these audacious challenges that I genuinely think I might fail, I think it all culminates in a way that gives the viewer the best experience and gives me the best chance to succeed.

Ben Wiggins:
How did giving back become so integral to your brand and business model as a creator?

Ryan Trahan:
Yeah, well, I moved to Austin in 2019 and, we actually just drove by my apartment on the way here and I pointed it out to him, but I wanted to move downtown. I didn’t realize that there’s a lot of different downtowns in a big city. So basically we were right off the highway and I wasn’t really living the downtown life the way I thought it was. I was telling him we’d drive to the suburbs every, every day because it was just too overwhelming to walk around. Um, but it was a really cool experience moving in the city. However, one thing we noticed that I never really grew up around was in Austin. There’s just this population of homelessness around my apartment and it really kind of broke Haley and I’s heart. And we wanted to know if there’s any way to support people beyond just being able to say hi and like have a conversation with people experiencing that. And we found out that there was a charity in Austin called Front Steps. And when we found out about that, I decided I was just going to do a live stream playing Minecraft, trying to raise money for Front Steps. And what’s really cool about that is it’s just fun. It was like six hours of my day. And so I just played Minecraft, interacting with my subscribers and donations would come in and we’d be celebrating like, Oh, that’s so fun. Thank you so much for the donation. And it felt like a good time. This was a fun experience. And on the other side of that, we were able to raise $20,000 for Front Steps, Austin. And whenever they found out about that, they were like, can you call us please? We don’t understand what’s going on here. What do you mean you’re playing Minecraft? Um, and so I got to explain to them what happened and why my audience was excited to support. And they were just so grateful. They were blown away by the support. Like that type of thing doesn’t really happen for them at that time. And they invited me out to this banquet to present the check. And I was like, are you sure this is, this is so meaningful and rewarding. And they got to share a lot of the work that they were doing. Um, and man, it was just really, really special. I got to share that experience with my viewers and they felt like they really made an impact and did something that mattered.

And after that, I just had a heart for fundraising in general. And that ultimately culminated in the biggest way, um, in this 2022 penny series where I travel across America, starting with one penny and we raise money for feeding America. So it was kind of a, the next stepping stone for that story. And we were able to raise almost $1.4 million in 30 days for feeding America and similar story. I mean, the essence of it is entertainment. I want to give my viewers a great experience where they get to enjoy something that they get to turn, their favorite YouTubers videos on every single day and also know that they’re making a difference. And what’s really cool is we started to see creators donate absurd amounts of money to be involved, but also promote something. And then we started seeing brands also donating to promote, you know, their mission, their products. And so this intersection of entertainment, marketing, and fundraising, I realized was one of the most powerful things that the world doesn’t really have in a big way. It’s not very common, but I love it. It’s so much fun and it’s really effective for the people that are donating to participate and promote whatever they want.

Ben Wiggins:
It seems really like cutting edge. One quick follow-up on that, how would you recommend that businesses and creators choose, essentially their non-profits to be involved with, like how did you approach that?

Ryan Trahan:
Yeah, I think what’s been cool as my platform has grown is, and also as we’ve had more successful fundraisers, is that these charities are like, oh yeah, we know what you do now, I can lean in with you. And I think that’s what was really cool about St. Jude is that they saw the Feeding America fundraiser, which I just started the Feeding America fundraiser without telling them, they had no idea I was gonna do it. And it turned out great. And afterwards they were so shocked and they’re like, this is awesome, please come out and say hi to our team. But St. Jude was proactive about helping me build the donation strategy, being able to have a custom landing page on their website that was super interactive, and they had a whole team supporting that. And I think ultimately it just allowed for a more successful fundraiser altogether. But when it comes to selecting the non-profits or the charities that you wanna support, for me the number one thing is trustworthiness and reliability and making sure that this charity is not only well understood by the general public who are gonna be donating, but also that they have a really great reputation where it’s almost a no-brainer. Everyone wants to support St. Jude. It’s such a worthwhile cause. It’s so amazing and meaningful. And for me that is the ultimately broadly appealing cause that we can all support this year. And so the question is, what’s the next one? And what’s the next one? And I’m sure there’ll be some double dipping eventually of being able to support charities a second time.

Ben Wiggins:
Love that. All right, so we’re in 2022 now. Tyler, you were reinventing your candy brand around this time, previously called Project 7, you mentioned, and had the idea to partner with a content creator. What inspired that move? And then what was the introduction to Ryan like?

Tyler Merrick:
Yeah, I mean, the reality is it’s back to that intuition or trying to look around corners. That’s, you’re trying always as an entrepreneur. And what had happened was prior to that, I’d been able to build business in that category around the check lane area. So in your grocery store, that’s where you check out, right? And that used to be like a high impulse purchase behavior area. So like you queue in that line, you’re waiting, your kids reach out for something, right? There’s batteries you need, whatever. And post COVID, all that changed to where people had And post COVID, all that changed to where people had moved from going into the stores to doing a lot more Instacarts, Amazon f or their groceries. And so that queuing had changed also internally in the store if they did go into self-checkout. And so now all of a sudden I was like, I’ve got to think of a different way here to try and build a business.

And so one of my, my youngest daughter was starting to, there was some different creators that she was watching and I would just kind of over shoulders, see what was going on. And I started to be really captured by this creator universe a little bit and going, this is a really interesting new world. It’s like an independent Hollywood, right? In that way where you just go and be what you want. And so I thought to myself, if I’m going to redo this and go after this next storyline with this business, we’re going to need a new way to kind of tell that story. And so I latched on to the idea of partnering with a creator. And so I began to just look at different creators and talk to different agents. And I came across Ryan and his penny series. And I was like, man, this is like, I don’t mean to, sometimes a lot of the content is just like content for content’s sake, and it can be that way. And I feel for them because they’re having to constantly make content, feed the meter over and over again, even for Ryan who does an amazing job. But this one was like so original and was filled with grit and creativity and entrepreneurship that I was just captivated by it. And I was like, that’s the kind of person that I would want to partner with if I could. And then began to read more about him and just character and some things from the sidelines that I was like, that’s another thing that’d be good.

And so that started about a year long conversation back and forth with Agent and then Ryan. And then eventually that came together and we started working on things in the background late 2023 and launched things early 2024.

Ben Wiggins:
Ryan, let’s turn the question around. You probably got, get partnerships pitched often when Tyler approached you and he was talking with the agent and so forth, but what made you think there was something worth building together? What spoke to you? What spoke to you?

Ryan Trahan:
Man, it’s very serendipitous looking back. Such a fun time, honestly. I didn’t know Tyler and so I just knew that this guy was reaching out and he was like a candy wizard or something. So it was a really fun process. And I think what was really awesome with Tyler reaching out was this opportunity to have truly an amazing entrepreneur run the business operation. And not only that, he’s like incredibly creative and innovative in this space that I think is so fun, which is candy. And not only that, but also this category of better for you candy was incredibly exciting for me. Like as a former college athlete, I was always gravitating towards better for you stuff. Like going to the gas station, I’ll get a protein bar, I’ll get a lower sugar candy, I’ll get like a zero sugar soda. I really do live that lifestyle and there’s just not a whole lot of options that are truly great in those categories. And so he had this idea of like a zero sugar, lower sugar candy.

And I remember the first time you sent samples to my house, it felt like Christmas morning. Like me and my wife, Haley, we opened up these boxes and it was these Joyride samples. And I had my friends come over and we were trying all of them and it was like the most fun I’ve had in a long time was just opening these bags of candy. And it was really, really exciting. And I did have opportunities coming up a lot, like even partnership opportunities that were equity type things. But really like this was an idea that just felt like it was supposed to be mine. Like I was supposed to be involved in this. And I had no idea how awesome of a person Tyler was. Like we’ve really become such great friends and I look up to him so much just as a business person, as a mentor. And it’s really just been the best partnership imaginable because of that. And we just wanna work hard for each other. And it’s been really, really fantastic.

Ben Wiggins:
That warms the heart for sure. So you say yes, now you two are working together. You come from different generations, different backgrounds.

Ryan Trahan:
We’re the same age.

Tyler Merrick:
We have had in the airport where fans came up to Ryan and asked if I was his dad. And then our chief sales officer was with me. And so they asked if she was his mother and were his parents. So we definitely get that.

Ryan Trahan:
Nope, that’s too funny.

Ben Wiggins:
With all of that in mind, how do you find your rhythm as coworkers and collaborators? And are there ever any points of friction around the differences in experience, shall we say?

Tyler Merrick:
I mean, Ryan’s so kind and is gonna feel like it’s just going back. But it’s, I mean, it really is Ryan’s, the values that we both hold and just as people first and foremost, definitely set us on like a level playing field to begin with the day. We’re still human. So that doesn’t mean like that’s perfect. But we’re definitely in the place of like trying to lean in and care for one another, see each other’s point of view, work hard for each other. And so we really, I’d make the joke a lot of times, like I’m like back of the house of the restaurant and Ryan’s the front of the house, you know? And I think the part that works really well is we both compliment each other really well. And like, I don’t, we can speak in to each other anytime, but we really try to like, this is your area and support one another in those areas.

But one thing that’s amazing about Ryan is he’s like, I get people all the time that are like, so like, is he like involved with things all, you know, in the daily? And I’m like, yeah, like he’s, this is a real thing for him. He wants, he cares about the product. He wants to taste it. He wants to talk about quality. He wants to improve on it. He wants to look at packaging. He wants to understand how we’re continuing to make a better product for the customer. He wants to understand how it goes to market. Like when he says like the Shark Tank days with his dad, like that’s genuine because it’s, he is a highly intellectual, super smart. He’s humble. He was valedictorian in his high school. Like he gets this stuff and he’s a very, he’s one of the best marketers I’ve ever been around. So the way that you can story tell and pull that together. So I think we’ve just been very fortunate. And if we do have things, we work through them. Like, and you know, we pray together. Our faith is important to us. We both go to the same church. So that kind of holds us accountable as well.

But I think at the end of the day, the generational thing is, I’m a creative as well. So I can really, I understand him in a lot of ways. And so that’s a gift. And, but also that keeps me a little bit younger at times because, you know, you’re just constantly, you know, pressing in and trying to see things in the world, how it’s moving. And so I think for the most part we, I don’t think that’s been like a real hangup in that sense, but you’re welcome to say otherwise.

Ryan Trahan:
Well, I think it’s been a strength, honestly, because there’s so much that you’ve accomplished and experienced that I don’t, and I haven’t. And at the same time, you are super creative. Like I’ll get an email from him at 1:50 in the morning and he’s like, hey, here’s a crazy idea I had. And I just think that’s so cool to have a CEO who’s like that. And I just think the types of traits that you have, you always talk about, you know, your 20s and early 30s and like that business time of your life. But I feel like you’ve just, you’ve learned so much and you’re also just so humble about how you approach your wisdom and your experience that it rubs off on everyone. And so I just look forward to hearing any input he has. Like you said, I do feel like we operate in different sandboxes. He fully trusts me on like marketing ideas, for example. Even if they sound crazy, he’s just like, all right, Ryan, go for it, we can try it. And I think that support, similar to how my dad was supportive, it instills confidence in a way that makes you want to work really hard and go give something your best effort. So I think it’s been very complimentary.

Tyler Merrick:
Thank you. I think that on that note, though, I think it’s really important thing to say, the generational, I mean, part of the reason of bringing Ryan in was going, you have agency in a certain, in the economy today in a way that you see it through a different lens than I did. And so the thing that’s great about that is like they challenge you in the best kind of way. So I can remember whenever we first started getting how we were performing in Target, like your sales rankings. And we were like in the 30s and I was thrilled, like this is great, like this is a great impact so far. And Ryan was like, I want us to be number one. And I was like, man, that sounds amazing, but do you realize like how hard that’s, in my mind, right? And then Ryan, back to like the whole thing of, I think what’s really important to press on this is that up into that time, you very much like, you didn’t publish your results. Like that was like kind of a thing. And so Ryan’s like, I want to become number one and I want to take people along for the ride. And I was like, whoo, I don’t know. But I did, I finally was like, all right, let’s roll. Like, let’s go with it.

And it was through that art of storytelling and pressing up against the status quo that we needed that also pulled people in to be a part of a story. And Ryan’s so great at that. And so then we were able to punch above our weight and then the product had to perform, right? And you had to enjoy it. But that, then all of a sudden, we went from like that 33 to by the end of last year, number one, which is like unheard of. I mean, it just, it really, it would be like unseating Coke, right? Inside of, you know, soda. It just doesn’t happen. And so I think that you need that generational healthy tension to say, no, I wanna go run. Like, let’s go, let’s do this. Kind of like even with my dad, like, I know this is crazy, but like, let’s not put a dog or a cat on the package and let’s go with that. So I do think that multi-generational aspect of any business, of any organization, any church, it’s so healthy because you get so many great perspectives in that.

Ben Wiggins:
Joyride has always had a unique approach to marketing with the focus on social media platforms and storytelling over simply selling. Tell us a little bit about how the sausage is made and some of your favorite campaigns, if you would.

Ryan Trahan:
Yeah, totally. I look around at the candy space but also the CPG space as a whole and it feels very much like you have no idea who are running these businesses. Which, it’s been like that for a long time, honestly predating social media. So it’s not a huge surprise if major companies that have a really successful business, they don’t have to be more transparent. They don’t have to say, hey, I’m the one running the social media account or I’m the one in charge of marketing. It’s actually pretty weird to think about. And so what’s really cool about this time that we live in of social media and building in public and being able to share dreams with people that wanna support you, I think it’s given Joyride a very, very unique standing on the shelf. We have a story. Like if you look at the product on the shelf, most of the time, you have no idea what that brand stands for. You have no idea what their storyline that they’re in currently is. And I think that was our opportunity that I wanted to try to take advantage of.

So the first thing that we did in 2024 is we were launching in Target. I wanted to make sure this was a successful launch and the stakes are high. I mean, launching in Target is a huge opportunity. And I remember you telling me, like when we first found out we were getting into Target, it’s like, this is a huge deal. Here’s our goals for how many units per store per week and we just need to execute. We need a good job. And I was like, okay. And my brain immediately went to making up a launch day. And so I just thought of calling it Joyride Day. Pretty genius, pretty creative. But what I did was basically a 30-day countdown to, hey guys, Joyride’s gonna be launching in Target on the bottom shelf on Joyride Day. It’s gonna be June 13th and I need all of you guys to go to the store. Our goal is to prove that a candy with no fake junk, no fake colors, and up to 80% less sugar can actually become America’s favorite candy. And so that was the call and cry and people really responded to it, even people that weren’t in my audience. They’re like, I wanna support a better for you candy. I wanna prove to Target that they deserve a chance on the main candy section. And so 30-day countdown, we worked really, really hard on the content side, promoting it. And Joyride Day comes and I just remember like going to Instagram, seeing all the tagged posts, empty shelves everywhere. Like Joyride just sold out all over the place. And by like 11 a.m., so many stores that were just completely wiped. And that was insane. I mean, people were buying like six bags of Joyride and that just makes no sense if you didn’t have a story to support, if you didn’t understand the mission. It changes people’s behavior, how they experience a brand. I think that’s what we’re trying to do at Joyride, even beyond Target launch, beyond these other retailers. We really want America to have a new favorite candy and it’s rooted in a mission that is having to make no trade-offs for flavor or taste, but you get all the benefits of being able to enjoy candy that you can enjoy into adulthood. You know, you don’t have to trade it off just because you grew up. So I think that’s what’s really powerful about Joyride and I’m loving every moment of it.

Ben Wiggins:
Fantastic. All right, guys, moment of truth. What are your top lessons in leadership that you would want to share with people who are getting started, people who are maybe a little farther along in their career? What are the most important things to you?

Ryan Trahan:
I think we both look at the other one.

Tyler Merrick:
I think you gotta, I gotta think about this. I know, I would say that one that comes to mind is, you know, a lot of times in any journey, what happens is that you judge moments by your peaks and valleys, right? And I think the wisdom and perspective, my dad told me this a long time ago, is that it’s somewhere in the in-betweens, right? The meaning of that is not to find yourself in residence in either one. And so when you’re in the valley and you’re going through hard times in a business or life situation, to not be like, this is my identity. This is how it’s always going to be. And the same thing on the peaks, whenever you’re just having a great time, being like, this is the best and it’s always gonna be this way. That somewhere in between helps you have that perspective so that you walk in humility and then, but still, so like, if you’re in the valley, you’re like, you’re in a perspective of also, you’re looking up and going, I know at some point there’s gonna be a time that I can pull out of this. And so that helps kind of preach to yourself and work yourself up to like, crawl out of that time. But then if you’re at the peak, you’re having the perspective and the humility to kind of go, all right, I appreciate this, but it doesn’t have to always be this way. And this is not my identity and I can go through it all. And so I think that’s a real good, that has served me really well in leadership. So if that means there’s a conflict with something, and a person, whether there’s a business problem that you’re going through, it’s just to be like, hey, give it a little perspective. It’s not as bad as it is. And then same thing, like, it’s not as great as it is, kind of like getting a little bit more balance and when you’re kind of reframing it for yourself.

Ryan Trahan:
That’s great. Yeah, like I said, I feel like I’ve learned a lot from you when it comes to leadership. He really has taught me so much. I’m so young, so I feel like there’s, it’s kind of hard for me to speak honestly, but I have led a team for my YouTube channel and I can say it’s very difficult. It’s challenging to lead a team and to show up every day and try to be the best version of yourself. I think realizing the responsibility of like, I really make an impression on everyone I interact with, not only teams that we lead, but also relationships that we have in a day to day. And so I think the two things that have been kind of the theme of my 20s. Strategically, I love this phrase, long-term focus. So simple, but even you, like your persistence to be able to push forward with Project 7 to get to this point, if you’d given up and gotten distracted, we wouldn’t be sitting here right now. And also even for my YouTube channel, despite my desires to have these entrepreneurial moments and I wanna start this business and this business, ultimately dialing in on YouTube, letting that be my long-term focus and my craft that I wanna be excellent at, afforded me the opportunity to be interesting to Tyler, to partner with. And so I think that phrase, long-term focus is something that I hope to continue to not only exhibit, but instill in people that I care about. Like if you have a dream, if you have something you’re passionate about, trust that and give it all you got over a long time horizon and a lot of fruit can come from it.

And then just emotionally, we were just talking about this verse on the way here, but I love this verse that says, godliness with contentment is great gain. And I think this phrase is really powerful in the sense that if we’re not content in life, we often make decisions that are irrational or we make, yeah, hasty decisions. We act out of desperation rather than out of contentment. And I think that could honestly, I could have made a lot of poor decisions based on that. If I wasn’t rooted in a foundation I felt like is allowing me to be content in life, I probably would have taken bad business opportunities. I probably wouldn’t be focusing on creating content that I think is redemptive. And so I just think contentment is one of the most amazing underrated superpowers when it comes to business, because there’s some sharks out there. Shark tank comes back full circle. There’s definitely some sharks out there. And so I just think that’s a really powerful tool that is pretty uncommon to make inspirational or motivational.

Ben Wiggins:
Yeah, the contentment leads to the sustainability of the effort. So anyway, love that guys. Thank you, Tyler and Ryan for sharing your lessons and leadership with us today on Aggie Legends. On behalf of Mays Business School, I’m Ben Wiggins. We hope you’ll subscribe to Aggie Legends and leave a review. It really helps others find the show. We’re building a better future through business and we thank you for being a part of it.

Troy Cormier:
You have to blend these same principles in your family life that you blend in the company, and we do a lot of time reflecting on how can we not only benefit the company, but help ourselves individually.

Ben Wiggins:
Welcome to Aggie Legends, where we talk with founders, CEOs, and other successful Aggies about the lessons in leadership they’ve experienced throughout their careers. I’m your host, Ben Wiggins, Mays MBA class of 2018, and today we’re talking to Troy Cormier, the CEO of Jason’s Deli. Troy is an accounting graduate from Lamar University who became an Aggie when he earned an Executive MBA at Mays Business School in 2008. He spent more than 30 years with Jason’s Deli and became CEO of the company in 2016. Troy, welcome to the show.

Troy Cormier:
Well, thank you for having me. Great to be here in Aggieland.

Ben Wiggins:
It is our pleasure to have you. Tell us a little bit about your, about your early years. Let’s talk about the origin story.

Troy Cormier:
Yeah, it’s hard to go all the way back, but I think if I’m summing it up in one word, there’s a lot of luck that happens in life, and for me, it started pretty early. I grew up in the Beaumont area. My whole family grew up working in refineries, and I just felt like that was my lot in life was to you know graduate from high school and grow up and become an operator at a refinery. My family got transferred to Baton Rouge, where I was injected into a whole different culture. You see, when I grew up in the Port Neches area, my high school was everybody looked alike. And when I went to Baton Rouge, I got lucky enough to see a world a little differently. I got to see a more diverse world and I think it helped me a great deal along the way. We came back to the Port Neches area. My dad got transferred back and had to reacclimate myself to those same friends and again lucky enough to see the change in people’s life over time and was able to see a new change, a new experience. Some people I needed to avoid and some people I could be attracted to and luckily enough, I was able to attract myself to the right people.

Ben Wiggins:
What do you feel like were the early examples of when you started to adopt positions of leadership or a place of leadership?

Troy Cormier:
Yeah. I never felt like I was a leader. I think that may have been something that I didn’t have a lot of people who emulated that, but I was attracted to the people who were experts in certain things. So at the very first stages of leadership I think it’s real good to be the expert in something or at least continue to try to be the expert of something. So everything I did, probably a weakness of mine, I tried to be an expert at it.

Ben Wiggins:
You mentioned the possibility of following in the family footsteps, what made you think something different might be a good fit here? What led you toward pursuing a you know, education in accounting and a career in accounting?

Troy Cormier:
Yeah well, I said my entire family grew up and went to the refinery life, but one uncle on my mom’s side stood out. He was never around, but my grandfather was always proud of him, and he was an accountant. He was an accountant with Bechtel. He would travel the world and really always had a little bit extra money, and so the early seeds of being an accountant were planted.

Ben Wiggins:
Tell us about the next steps then. You got a bachelor’s in accounting. You go to Jason’s Deli. How were you feeling during that course of that part of that journey?

Troy Cormier:
Once again, luck stepped in. I was the first Cormier in my family to go to college and graduate with a four-year degree. My only option was Lamar, so I stayed at home, went to college, progressed on. I had to work through college, and my senior year I got an internship with a accounting firm there, and both of those partners were our ex-Arthur Andersen partners, which led me to Arthur Andersen. Trying to make a long story short, but went to Houston but was still going back and forth to Beaumont when I met the lady who would ultimately be my wife and so I scratched the Arthur Andersen, went to a small accounting firm in Beaumont, and married the love of my life.

Ben Wiggins:
Fantastic. And then Jason’s Deli, how did that happen? How did that come to be?

Troy Cormier:
At that same accounting firm as luck would have it, I’m working on a job with Jason’s Deli. I open the paper and I see an ad for the CFO of Jason’s Deli. It actually said DMI or Deli Management Incorporated, and so I snapped real quick and you know I’d met Joe. I’d talked to Joe. Joe was the founder of Jason’s class of ‘70. A huge Aggie and a great influence and great influence of my life ultimately but at the time, you know I put in my application, my resume, I interviewed. I went back and interviewed another time, and a couple of weeks later I got the letter and the letter said, you know, thank you for your interest, we have declined your application. I have that letter today. My wife framed it, and I have it on a book bookshelf and until we lost Joe, he always wanted me to take that letter down. Ultimately, the guy who wanted the job probably wanted too much money, Joe’s also frugal. We’re in the restaurant business so we have to watch every penny. And he took a chance on a 26-year-old, young, just starting a family, individual.

Ben Wiggins:
When did you find out that, actually contrary to what we had expected, you’re actually going to get offered the job? What was that like?

Troy Cormier:
Yeah. Other than the documentation he would say he never said no. But the reality is, Joe was very inquisitive. He always asked a lot of questions, so he was constantly asking me of those values, and what my life was like, and what I wanted out of life and I think he saw a little bit of promise, and he probably also saw a challenge and so he gave the young guy a little bit of luck, and the rest is history. I’ll say it wasn’t a 100% guaranteed that I even wanted to pursue it, because my wife at the time was a little nervous about moving from a steady CPA job to a small deli which you know from her perspective she saw the deli as one thing and that is the place that her parents went on Saturday nights after square dancing. And you can picture this bolo tie, petticoats, the whole bit. And so luckily again, her dad was a big fan of the deli. He was a big fan of Joe, and he convinced her to let us both leap in and take this journey.

Ben Wiggins:
Fantastic. You mentioned earlier the desire for expertise in everything. How else has that manifested itself in your life?

Troy Cormier:
I think when we talk commitment, commitment is a great thing. But at times, you need to make sure that you’re not affecting others in your life, and in my case, at times that happens. When I started golf when my kid when my son was going up through high school, I couldn’t just be an average golfer and have him beat me so I had to get to a level where I was a scratch golfer and could compete with him all the way up to college. When I took up the martial arts and Taekwondo, I couldn’t just go through the belts. I had to become a third degree black belt, certified instructor, and a coach. When I took up running, I couldn’t just do a half marathon, I had to do multiple marathons, I’m still itching for my 10th Houston marathon. But that wasn’t enough, I had to go become a triathlete and do Ironman so after my third or fourth Ironman, my body just said okay maybe you need to pursue something else. Everything in life is taken to that level, and sometimes in an unhealthy way and I need to recognize that. When you look outside of what your body is telling you and you look at the relationships that it affects and you know Taekwondo at night and traveling took away from family of with a young child or children. When you’re talking about the Ironman and spending you know 12, 13, 20 hours a week training, and the demands that put on a family while you’re also pursuing a career, that’s where it became not unhealthy for me, probably healthy for me as an introvert but unhealthy for that family relationship and I was lucky enough to have a lot of patience from those who love me.

Ben Wiggins:
What sparked the desire for leadership in the company for you, or made you excited for that possibility?

Troy Cormier:
I think we talked a little bit earlier about expert power, and that’s really all I knew. So it was just the yearning to learn more and to continue to become as close as I could to an expert in anything that I could. So, when you’re in a small company like that, you become the expert even though you may not know everything. You become the expert in it, and then you get promoted and you hope to avoid what we all know is the Peter Principle. You get promoted until you’re promoted out of your, out of your job.

Ben Wiggins:
Competence yeah. Where were you most concerned about that? What were the weaknesses you felt like you needed to work on the most?

Troy Cormier:
Yeah, I think it’s all in that relationship side. I remember a specific moment when Joe took me aside and he said, look you’re really good in this area, but if you just let these other people manage the things that you’re not good at. There were some specific individuals in the company that were really good at that at the time. And he led me to get stronger in the areas where I was deficient and then over time you start getting better at relationships. Nobody’s ever the best at it. I’m still working on it today. You can ask my wife for sure. 32 years later, and we’re still having those conversations. Thank you for that.

Ben Wiggins:
Part of the journey, the journey of self-improvement was going back to school for an MBA. When was the moment where you thought all right I need to pursue an MBA and then what made you decide on Texas A&M’s Executive MBA program?

Troy Cormier:
Another one of those lucky things. Joe was a Aggie. There was no other place I was going back for my MBA than Texas A&M. At the time, they had two tracks. They had a leadership track and a finance track and as a recovering accountant I just knew I was going the finance track but the reality was he said no let’s go the leadership track. And that started that journey. I got lucky there again. I started it in 2005, and in 2005, all of us got impacted by Hurricane Katrina, followed by Hurricane Rita, and Hurricane Rita came right through Beaumont where Jason’s Deli is based and we had to move our company offices to Dallas, and I had to pull out of the program prior to even getting what I think is the most fascinating part about the EMBA program and that is getting my team. So coming back again the next year, going all the way through, and getting really what I think is was the best thing for me getting a very diverse, what we called the traveling team because I was from Beaumont, and some of our, all of our teammates were, all of my teammates were traveling from around the country and once I got that really diverse, probably the most diverse team you could get, of very intelligent, powerful people. It taught me the value of a team and it taught me how to lead and have those relationships that I wouldn’t have had I not come here.

Ben Wiggins:
What was the situation where you feel like the diversity of the team produced the biggest breakthrough for you?

Troy Cormier:
Yeah, so one of the weaknesses that I would say I had was in that thinking that expert power, so it’s hard to be good at everything the Executive MBA program asks you to be good at. You just can’t do it, you have to rely on your team to pull you up in areas where you can’t and that’s, it was almost like if you don’t you’re going to fail. And at the time, I could outwork just about anybody, but when I found out that okay she can do this and he can do this better than me then we all came together as a team that’s when that’s when that accelerant happened.

Ben Wiggins:
Okay, then you become CEO of Jason’s Deli in 2016. How did you react to that? Did you do anything silly like I think a lot about these either celebratory moments or moments of nervousness perhaps like what was the what was the most striking part of your reaction?

Troy Cormier:
That transition was such an easy transition because Joe was still there. It was one of those that you knew he was going to be there and help you through any situation. I can’t say I wasn’t proud and didn’t share it and didn’t celebrate me and my wife love a good bottle of wine so we probably had a really good bottle of wine that night. But the job didn’t change that much.

Ben Wiggins:
Okay okay. How do you manage the demands of the job?

Troy Cormier:
Luckily again, I have a family that has great understanding for who I am and so in the mornings they allow me to have my time. I wake up at 4:45 in the morning I have time by myself, and then I go out and run and have time by myself and then I come in and go to work and I have the energy to perform during the day and then when I come back at night, again those same individuals have to sacrifice some of their time to let me gain a little more energy before you know they ask anything of me. And I’m not real good around the house. I mean my wife she is absolutely the rock of the household.

Ben Wiggins:
Yes, we’re both fortunate in that respect. I’m high effort, but probably low productivity.

Troy Cormier:
Can I borrow that? Or as Joe said can I network that?

Ben Wiggins:
Please do.

Troy Cormier:
Awesome.

Ben Wiggins:
Hearing all that, would you then identify yourself as an introvert?

Troy Cormier:
By my very nature I’m an introvert. I think early in life, having to move in those critical moments from sixth grade to Baton Rouge and then 11th grade back those are two critical moments in your life. You have to kind of have that coming in from the inside and not have those connections. I think it helped me get better at establishing the connections but it really solidified where I get all of my energy and that is from myself. So I always have to have those times where I’m alone whether that’s running in the morning or whether that’s just you know sitting around in the afternoon with my lovely wife to re-energize myself. Because you know being in this, being in this job you have to be on stage most of the time, and it for an introvert it draws a ton of energy away and I know a lot of people probably you where you get your energy doing this and I will at the end of the day, be really drained and want my new grandbaby in my arms just to relax and chill.

Ben Wiggins:
Yeah, I have the opposite problem where I, you know I do want to spend all my time around the people and then you know there’s this little voice in the back of my head that says you kind of got to get the work done at some point too and I’m like but I don’t wanna, I want to go make new friends. So, but I appreciate you sharing that.

Troy Cormier:
I’m sure everybody you know that has that sort of personality would love to have your job. But if you’re an introvert or an extrovert don’t worry about that pursue what you want to pursue and you can be on stage. I probably I wouldn’t be as good, but I probably could do your job it just would take so much more energy and you could do my job it would just probably take some energy from you.

Ben Wiggins:
Describe the cultural evolution for Jason’s Deli especially as it relates to leadership, if you would.

Troy Cormier:
Once again, I became lucky to be on the forefront of what Joe was learning. You see, I started November of 1994, he took a trip to A&M in March of ‘95, literally four months later and he was helping teach a class with C.W. Conn, who also came from Beaumont. And after that class, they went to a ceremony they were celebrating a man by the name of David Glass who was being recognized as Executive of the Year by A&M and Joe said he was I’m assuming everybody knows who David Glass is, but David Glass was a handpicked successor of Sam Walton, CFO at the time the second CEO of Walmart, the largest company at the time and Joe was in the audience and they were doing a Q&A and he remembered a little lady’s hand go up and she said what’s the secret to Sam Walton’s success? And without hesitation David Glass said servant leadership and Joe wrote that down on a business card and luckily enough I was with him through that culture transformation of the company because before it was, and Joe was part of the Corps here, it was command and control, it was very much like he said when he saw servant leadership he thought that doesn’t make any sense I mean servants serve and leaders command they control they tell you what to do and so that journey over those many years up until today where we’re still learning about leadership and now servant leadership and traditional leadership have to blend in order to get any type of results that learning is still going on today.

Ben Wiggins:
Fantastic. Let’s then take that into leadership principles. What are the most important ones that guide you and guide the company?

Troy Cormier:
Yeah, well, when Joe introduced servant leadership and I was along that path, we really focused on all eight of those leadership principles. You know, from the very beginning it’s selflessness, respect, patience, kindness, commitment, honesty, forgiveness and humility. Over the years not only have we delved into each and every one but just here recently we’ve helped folks like me who are who really like process, and we’ve turned it into the servant leadership process.

Ben Wiggins:
How do you feel like that helps you differentiate in the marketplace in an era where you know where everybody’s talking about culture and core values and so forth what do you feel like is this stuff that is truly different?

Troy Cormier:
I think our folks can sense how leadership should be not only in business but in their own family lives, or in their charitable organizational lives or their teams that they coach. I mean, you can blend these same principles or you have to blend these same principles in your family life that you blend in in the company. And we do a lot of time reflecting on how can we not only benefit the company, but it but help ourselves individually it’s the purpose of our company the purpose is to improve the lives of others through nourishment of the body, mind, heart, and spirit.

Ben Wiggins:
Yeah. Was there a particular moment that you feel like these leadership principles really got a chance to sing? Like what’s the story that stands out for you?

Troy Cormier:
There’s a ton of, ton of stories that would resonate you know, COVID has to be one, the restaurant industry was devastated by COVID specifically in our industry where we were not only serving folks that come in for great salad bar or the free ice cream, but we cater to businesses as well. So we were hit in both of those areas and our folks had to really step up and make some of the hardest sacrifices in their lives. A lot of that you know commitment came out where, before they had a team of people to help them through and in critical moments they only had themselves and maybe one or two employees to help them through an entire day. And, all of those lessons that Joe taught us about really taking care of the people that that take care of you, played out in that situation we took care of all of our managing partners all of them had full compensation they had full bonuses the whole time through because they were out there on the front lines really sacrificing for the company.

Ben Wiggins:
Yeah, and you lost Joe around the same time.

Troy Cormier:
We had lost Joe just prior, the August of 2019 prior to COVID which was the worst time in the company’s life. The family really stepped up after that during COVID and helped us through it and it’s a minor blessing if Joe was going to go, probably was best for him to go to go prior to COVID, because that time would have really, it would have really devastated him.

Ben Wiggins:
Yeah. What are the top leadership lessons that you would share with aspiring young people and what might catch them a little bit unawares or unexpected about those lessons?

Troy Cormier:
Well, Jim Collins talked about in his book Good to Great: disciplined people, engaged in disciplined thought and taking disciplined action. So if you think about servant leadership those first two, and I talk about this a lot the first two, selflessness and respect, are really about you as a leader being that one of those disciplined people and then having the respect of others to bring on the right team and getting the other disciplined people around you. And then the next two, Patience and Kindness, is all about that engaging in disciplined thought, having the right patient plan and then kindness to the customer. And then the last group of principles is the disciplined action part. You know that commitment and then being honest with yourself about how that commitment played out, and forgiving not only yourself but the process, and changing that process to get better and further action and then humility at the end to give thanks and recognition to those that helped you. I mean it is a true process of servant leadership.

Ben Wiggins:
Wonderful. How has all of this influenced your journey with your family like the growth of your family and your relationship with your wife who you’ve mentioned what how does how do all these things play together?

Troy Cormier:
Yeah well, I speak a lot on this topic on all of our core what we call core values where we bring our managers in, I tell the story there, I’ll tell the story here at A&M just shortly about my journey to leadership and getting what I call the job and for me, the job is being a parent and so I’ll tell the story about how I found comfort in each and every one of those character values and I learned it from different people. Patience, I learned from my wife. She was a kindergarten teacher at the time and obviously, patience is a virtue when you’re a kindergarten teacher. But also in that, those thoughts about the they’ll always want the bright and shiny toys, they’ll always want to take the shortcut. That’s true in business and in family. Then you need to ensure that they know the basics they know the fundamentals. Family, business, all of these things that you you lead your family with, or you lead your company with or your team or your organization or the school all of those things come into play and fortify each.

Ben Wiggins:
Is there something that you think is missing, or that conventional wisdom still doesn’t have quite right about the interplay between work and family?

Troy Cormier:
I think we’re all still growing, and each family and each organization is different. I think we were extremely lucky we’re a privately held family-owned company, and we’re able to do some things specifically in the patience and kindness area that you just don’t see in other companies and large companies they’re just not allowed to do. And I think from the patient standpoint if they were allowed to do more of it long term they would benefit greatly but with today’s quarterly earnings calls.

Ben Wiggins:
Sure, yeah what’s your stock price doing this week and

Troy Cormier:
Yeah activists, investors, it’s just, it’s hard it’s hard to do what people know they need to do.

Ben Wiggins:
Yeah, makes sense. All right well thank you Troy so much for sharing your lessons and leadership with us here on Aggie Legends, we appreciate you joining us on the show.

Troy Cormier:
And thank you very much for having me. What a great place to be and a great thing to share with future generations coming up.

Ben Wiggins:
Without a doubt. On behalf of Mays Business School, I’m Ben Wiggins. We thank you for joining us for Aggie Legends please take a moment to like, subscribe, leave a comment it really helps others find the show. Here at Mays Business School we’re building a better future through business and we thank you for being a part of it.